Dr. Pepper's origins?

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Tue May 5 11:54:10 EDT 2009


Dr. Pepper was very popular in the Bluefield area in the late '40's and
early '50's when I was growing up there.

Dave Phelps


In a message dated 5/5/2009 11:30:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

That was the legend around Rural Retreat, however, according to the
Dr Pepper Museum website

" There are several stories surrounding the naming of Dr Pepper. The
most popular is that Wade Morrison worked for a man name Dr. Charles
Pepper in Rural Retreat, VA before he moved to Waco and became the
owner of The Old Corner Drug store where Dr Pepper was invented. The
story is that Morrison fell in love with Dr. Pepper's daughter, but
Dr. Pepper would not let them get married. To make his fortune he
moved west to Waco and named the new exciting drink after Dr. Pepper
to win the hand of his daughter. We do have census records that
indicate that this legend is probably not true. Dr. Pepper in Rural
Retreat, Virginia had a daughter who was eleven at the time of Wade
Morrison's employment. Mr. Morrison is not the person who invented Dr
Pepper but Dr. Charles Alderton, a pharmacist who worked for Mr.
Morrison at his Old Corner Drug Store. This is also documented and in
our archives. I hope this clarifies any confusion. "

I don't know that it ever generated business for the N&W, Rural
Retreat is not exactly a huge tourist draw.

The Roanoke Valley was, at least in the 1950s sold more Dr Pepper per
capita than any other metro area east of the Mississippi.

The only way to connect this back to the N&W would be supplies and
materials to manufacture the drink were probably brought in via rail
in those days. However, to my recollection, the bottling plant did
not have a rail siding, so it would have been trucked to the plant
itself.

Ken Miller

On May 5, 2009, at 8:00 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:


>

> I don't mean to be slightly off-topic here but I thought the common

> myth was that Dr. Pepper was "invented" along the N&W at, in, or

> near Rural Retreat, VA. I know this was at least an early formula

> but if anyone can fill in the missing parts of this tale and how it

> made business for the N&W, I think it would be interesting.

>

> Thanks.

>

> Bob Cohen

>

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